Robert  Ellis   Thcnpson 


The   SencUnr  of   the   Apostles,    Tv.70  by  Two 


BSZ440 
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tihvavy  of  t:he  theological  ^emmarjp 

PRINCETON  .  NEW  JERSEY 

FROM  THE  LIBRARY  OP 
ROBERT  ELLIOTT  SPEER 


.T4" 


The  Sending  of  the  Apostles,  Two  by  Two. 

A  SERMON  y 

BY 

REV.   ROBERT    ELLIS   THOMPSON,   D.  D., 

OF    THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  PENNSYLVANIA. 


"  Now  the  names  of  the  twelve  apostles  are  these:  The 
fir  sty  Simon,  who  is  called  Peter,  and  Andrew  his  brother  ; 
James  the  son  of  Zebedee ,  and  J ohn  his  brother  ;  Philip,  and 
Bartholomew  ;  Thomas,  and  Matthew  the  publican  ;  James 
the  son  of  Alpheus,  and  Lebbeus,  whose  surname  was  Thad- 
deus  :  Simon  the  Canaanite,  and  Judas  Iscariot,  who  also 
betrayed  him.     Matthew — x,  2-4. 

"  What  is  the  greatest  wonder  that  God  hath  wrought 
in  a  small  thing  ?  "  asks  an  old  riddle  of  the  middle  ages ;: 
and  the  answer  is—"  The  human  face,  and  that  God  has 
made  so  many  and  no  two  are  alike."  Now  just  as  differ- 
ent as  these  outer  faces  of  the  person,  are  the  inner  faces 
that  we  call  character— no  two  of  them  are  alike.  You  dif- 
fer somewhere  from  every  other  child  of  Adam  that  has 
been  born  into  this  world  of  ours.  God  designed  that  dif- 
ference in  making  you.  It  is  part  of  your  relation  to  Him, 
and  if  you  come  to  know  God  as  truly  your  friend  and 
your  father,  you  will  find  that  He  will  make  this  difference 


a  channel  of  some  communication  to  you  which  has  come 
to  no  one  else.  For  such  is  the  infinitude  of  His  greatness 
and  His  love,  as  He  is  thus  able  to  adapt  Himself  to  each 
one's  character  according  to  the  specialty  and  peculiarity 
of  that  man,  thus  using  those  peculiar  things,  as  well  as 
the  common  things  which  belong  to  us  all  as  members  of 
the  race. 

Now  while  there  are  these  infinite  differences  in  char- 
acter, so  there  are  also  marked  resemblances.  Men  are 
not  altogether  different.  One  man  reminds  us  of  another, 
not  perhaps  by  the  outer  face  of  the  person  at  all,  but  by 
the  inner  face  of  character ;  and  we  gather  these  resem- 
blances together  in  a  common  thought,  and  bind  them  up 
with  a  common  adjective.  We  thus  come  to  recognize  a 
certain  order  and  unity  underlying  this  wonderful  variety, 
and  equally  with  it  giving  character  to  the  world  of 
humanity. 

Now  there  came  into  this  world  One  who  claimed  to 
be  the  Son  of  Man— man  not  in  any  narrow  or  partial 
sense,  but  in  that  broad  and  universal  sense  which  God 
thought  of  when  He  said:  "Let  us  make  man  in  our 
own  image."  He  came  into  this  world  to  gather  into  one 
•body  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men — not  a  certain  class 
of  men,  but  ,all  classes — to  establish  a  Kingdom,  which 
'should  be  a  gathering  under  one  head  of  all  that  is  in  the 
heavens  and  in  the  earth.  How  did  He  deal  with  this 
wonderful  difference  in  human  character?  When  He 
selected  the  officers  and  ministers  of  this  new  Kingdom, 
^hat  choice  did  He  make?  Did  He  pick  out  some  one 
'class  of  men,  all  of  them  filled  up  with  zeal  and  fervor 
and  faith — men  who  would  go  to  their  death  at  His  com- 
mand— men  who  never  stumbled  at  any  word  of  His — 
men  of  faith,  who  had  no  difficulties  and  without  any 
ordinary  weaknesses?  Did  He  call  for  His  ministers, 
men  who  would  be  as  flaming  fire  and  winds  of  strength 
in  His  service?  If  He  had  done  so,  how  different  this 
'story  of  the  gospels  would  have  been.  We  should  have 
reiad  it  then  without  feeling  that  it  had  anything  to  do 


with  such  people  as  we  are.  We  should  have  felt  that 
these  apostles  were  exceptional  men — that  they  were 
strong  where  we  are  weak,  that  they  did  not  feel  our  diffi- 
culties, had  not  to  overcome  our  weaknesses.  We  should 
have  said  :  "  It  is  a  wonderful  story  this  of  Christ,  but 
somehow  it  does  not  take  hold  of  us — it  is  full  of  won- 
derful and  lofty  teaching,  but  it  does  not  lay  hold  of  us." 

Turn  away  from  this  supposition  to  the  actual  story 
of  Christ — the  story  that  the  Evangelists  have  told  us 
with  such  wonderful  candor  in  these  four  gospels — two  of 
them  written  by  apostles  and  two  by  companions  of  the 
apostles, — what  a  difference  we  find  !  How  wonderfully 
full  of  love,  and  tenderness  and  comfort  the  story  is  seen 
to  be.  Why,  you  find  that  these  twelve  apostles  were  just 
men  like  ourselves,  men  of  our  frailties,  men  of  our  weak- 
nesses, our  failures,  our  doubts.  We  can  look  upon  the 
story  and  see  how  Christ  chose  just  such  men  as  we  are 
to  take  part  in  His  ministry  and  form  His  first  church, 
and  we  can  feel  that  there  is  a  place  for  us  in  His  church. 
We  can  feel  that  we  were  represented  in  that  first  little 
company,  that  our  doubts  were  met  and  overcome — our 
questions  were  answered,  and  that  such  as  we  are  still 
welcome  to  His  company  as  He  goes  on  to  do  and  to 
teach  what  He  "  began  to  do  and  to  teach  "  in  the  Church 
of  the  Apostles. 

And  when  we  look  into  our  Lord's  dealings  with  the 
difference  in  mind  and  character  among  His  Apostles,  we 
find  there  yet  another  lesson,  as  showing  how  this  is 
still  to  be  dealt  with  in  His  church.  First  let  us  see  how 
each  of  the  three  first  Evangelists  tell  of  His  calling  the 
Apostles.  Mark  says  it  was  "  to  be  with  Him  in  His 
ministry."  Mark's  gospel  is  the  gospel  of  Christ's  min- 
istry, that  is  its  watchword.  It  is  a  short  gospel,  with 
few  discourses  or  parables ;  but  it  is  full  of  the  tenderness 
of  His  service  to  men.  See,  for  instance,  its  reference  to 
our  Lord's  hands:  He  took  her  by  the  hand  and  lifted 
her  up  ;  He  laid  His  hand  upon  the  eyes  of  the  blind. 
The  other  gospels  tell  us  that  He  blessed  little  children — 


Mekrk  tells  us  He  took  them  in  His  arms,  put  His  hands 
upon  them  and  blessed  them.  He  makes  much  of  the 
hands — of  the  touch  of  Jesus — and  then  he  makes  much 
of  His  urgency.  He  is  constantly  pressing  on  from  one 
thing  to  another.  Our  Lord  does  one  thing ;  imme- 
diately, says  Mark,  He  did  something  else,  as  if  the  time 
was  too  short  for  all  He  had  to  do  for  us.  The  Greek 
word  for  immediately  occurs  eighty  times  in  the  New 
Testament,  and  of  this  eighty  just  forty  are  in  this  short 
gospel  of  Mark.  Lastly  Mark  dwells  on  the  fact  of  Christ 
ministering  to  the  multitudes  of  men  ;  and  then  after  He 
calls  the  Disciples  to  be  with  Him  in  His  ministry,  He 
sends  them  out  on  their  ministry  two  by  two. 

Luke,  on  the  other  hand, — he  gives  us  the  gospel  of 
the  Son  of  Man — Christ  in  His  humanity — Christ  in  the 
wonder  of  His  sinless  manhood,  and  so  it  is  that  he  pre- 
sents Him  to  us  in  the  closest,  the  most  intimate,  the 
nearest  relation  to  us.  Much  that  the  other  Apostles  tell 
vjs  that  Christ  spoke  to  the  multitudes  and  in  public  dis- 
course— Luke  tells  us  that  He  spoke  "  as  He  sat  at  meat 
with  them,"  in  intimate  social  intercourse.  And  so  of  His 
parables ;  they  commonly  begin :  "  A  certain  man  di4 
thus  and  so,"  and  set  forth  the  broadest  and  most  univer- 
sal teaching.  As  to  the  calling  of  the  Apostles,  he  says  that 
our  Lord  went  out  into  a  mountain  and  spent  the  night 
in  the  mountains  in  prayer,  and  when  it  was  day  He  called 
UBto  Him  His  disciples,  and  chose  the  twelve  whom  He 
named  Apostles.  Luke  dwells  much  on  our  Lord's 
prayers..  Here  where  Christ  comes  into  the  closest  rela- 
tion to  us,  we  have  His  example  pressed  on  us.  Even  He 
will  do  nothing  without  seeking  to  know  and  to  do  the  will 
of  the  Father. 

Matthew,  on  the  other  hand,  gives  you  the  gospel  of 
the  promised  Messiah,  the  King  of  the  Jews.  Hence  it 
is  that  although  Mark's  is  the  oldest  of  the  gospels,  Mat- 
thew's is  rightly  put  first  as  furnishing  the  transition  from 
the  Old  to  the  New  Testament.  It  is  the  most  Jewish 
gospel,  a  gospel  that  sets  forth  Christ's  life  as  a  new  chap- 


5 


ter  in  the  history  of  the  Jewish  nation,  shownig  how  the 
unseen  King  who  had  reigned  over  them  through  all  the 
past  ages  of  their  history,  had  now  in  the  fullness  of  tirne 
come    forth   to  claim   the  kingdom    as    His  own— to  be  ^ 
rejected  of  His  own,  "  to  be  delivered  to  the  Gentiles,     as 
Matthew  expressly  reminds  you,  and  yet  to  establish  that 
kingdom  in  the  "hearts  and  fellowship  of  men,  and  to  be 
King  in  spite  of  His  rejectors.     So  when  he  presents  the 
work  of  Christ  in  calling  the  Apostles,  it  is  the  act  of  the 
King  arranging  the  government  and  falling  the  offices  of 
His  kingdom.     He  calls  unto  Him  the  twelve  and  gives 
them  power  against  unclean  spirits  to  cast  them  out,  and 
to  heal  all  manner  of  sickness  and  all  manner  of  disease. 
And  when  He  sends  them  out  on  this  ministry,  He  sends 
them  also,  as  Mark  reminds  you,  two  by  two.     From  what 
Matthew  tells  us  and  the  way  in  which  he  here  groups  the 
Apostles  by  twos,  we  are  able  to  see  how  the  Master  and 
Kin<^  arranged  and  disposed  of  the  forces  of  His  King- 
dom-sending  out  His  Apostles   two   by  two  on  their 
errands  of  mercy  and  salvation  ;  and  as  we  examine  these 
six  pairs  into  which  the  Apostolic  college  was  grouped, 
we  learn  how  our  Lord  dealt  with  the  differences  of  mind 
and  character  in  the  Twelve. 

Let  us  look  at  these  Apostles  as  they  went  out  two 

^^y  two:  .     V      ,  u- 

"  First,  Simon  who  is  called  Peter,  and  Andrew  his 
brother."  Simon  Peter  is  a  familiar,  almost  a  proverbial 
character— the  most  outspoken  and  impetuous  of  all  the 
Apostles,  the  man  who  carried  in  his  head  a  tongue  more 
dangerous  than  the  sword  he  used  to  smite  off  the  ear  of 
the  High  Priest's  servant.  Yet  he  was  chosen  by  the 
Lord  called  by  Him  for  His  ministry.  We  should  have 
thought  it  extremely  dangerous  to  entrust  him  with  such 
a  responsibility  in  a  Church  encompassed  by  enemies  who 
were  on  the  watch  for  every  false  step  in  its  leaders. 
Throughout  the  whole  Gospel  story  he  is  everywhere  the 
same  impetuous  man.  "  Bid  me  come  to  Thee  on  the 
water/'  is  his  greeting  to  our  Lord  on  the  Sea  of  Gallilee 


while  their  boat  and  their  hearts  are  still  shaken  by  the 
storm.  Even  amid  the  glories  of  the  Mount  of  ^Trans- 
figuration,  when  one  might  have  expected  that  the  three 
who  went  up  with  Him  would  be  awed  into  silence,  Peter 
bursts  out,  "  Lord,  it  is  good  for  us  to  be  here !  If  Thou 
wilt,  let  us  make  three  tabernacles,  one  for  Thee  and  one 
for  Moses,  and  one  for  Elias."  And  when  the  Master 
warns  the  disciples  that  they  will  all  forsake  Him,  Peter 
lays  hold  of  Christ  to  rebuke  Him,  and  says — "  though 
they  should  all  fly  from  Thee,  I  will  not.  I  am  ready  to 
go  with  Thee,  Lord,  to  prison  and  to  death."  But  the 
Master  sorrowfully  warns  him  that  before  the  cock  crows 
twice,  he  will  deny  Him  thrice.  And  then  when  the 
Master,  before  the  Passover,  stoops  to  render  His  Apos- 
tles that  humble  ministry  of  love,  washing  their  feet  as 
their  host,  when  He  came  to  Peter  he  said,  "Thou  shalt 
never  wash  my  feet."  Then  when  Jesus  tells  him,  "If  I 
wash  thee  not,  thou  hast  no  part  with  me,"  he  swings  as  far 
to  the  other  side:  "  Lord,  not  my  feet  only,  but  also  my 
hands  and  my  head."  And  then,  a  few  hours  latef,  when 
he  was  charged  by  one  of  Pilate's  servants  with  being  one 
of  Christ's  disciples,  he  not  only  denied  it  indignantly  in 
his  impetuous  way,  but  when  they  pressed  him  with  being 
a  disciple  of  Christ's,  he  denied  Him  with  oaths  and  with 
curses — as  vehement  in  the  wrong  as  ever  in  the  right. 
And  our  Lord  turned  and  looked  at  Peter — Omnipotence 
only  looked  at  the  cursing  Apostle.  It  was  the  supreme 
test  of  our  Lord's  forbearance.  It  is  comparatively  easy 
to  bear  the  reproaches  of  an  enemy,  but  wh6n'"my 
friend,  who  hath  eaten  of  my  bread,  hath  lifted  up  his 
heel  against  me,"  it  is  hard  to  bear — yet  the  Lord  only 
looked  at  Peter,  and  the  look  broke  the  man's  heart — and 
he  went  out  into  the  night  and  the  darkness,  weeping 
bitterly.  And  then  you  will  remember  after  the  resurrec- 
tion Jesus  says:  "  Go  and  tell  my  disciples  and  Peter,"  as 
much  as  to  say,  "  Peter  says  he  is  not  my  disciple,  but  at 
any  rate  let  him  know  that  I  am  here,  and  see  if  he  will 
come."     Then  you  remember  that  last  scene  by  the  lake^ 


7 

side,  and  the  question  put  thrice:  "Simon,  son  of  Jonas, 
lovest  thou  me, — lovest  thou  me, —  lovest  thou  me?" 
and  then  Peter,  forgetting  all  the  shameful  past,  bursts 
into  those  words  of  remonstrance — "  Lord,  thou  knowest 
all  things — thou  knowest  that  I  love  thee." 

This  is  the  man  that  Christ  chose  and  sent  out  as  His 
Apostle — not  the  kind  of  man  you  would  have  chosen  for 
this  great  work ;  you  would  not  have  given  such  a  man 
any  such  responsibility  as  this.  But  the  Lord  chose  him, 
and  sent  him  out  upon  this  highest  of  commissions.  And 
he  sent  with  him  Andrew,  his  brother ;  a  man  who  seemed 
in  every  respect  the  contrary  of  Peter.  He  is  far-seeing, 
prudent,  cautious.  He  sees  all  the  difficulties  ahead  of 
him.  He  is  the  Apostle  the  cautious  Scotch  nation  have 
taken  as  their  patron  saint.  When  the  hungry  multitudes 
are  gathered  in  the  wilderness,  it  is  Andrew  that  suggests, 
as  a  sort  of  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means,  that  "  There 
is  a  lad  here  which  hath  five  barley  loaves  and  two  small 
fishes,"  and  then  he  adds,  in  his  Scotch  way,  "  But  what 
are  they  among  so  many?"  When  the  Greeks  would  see 
Jesus  and  come  and  ask  Philip  about  it,  Philip  goes  and 
consults  the  cautious  Andrew,  as  knowing  that  he  will  not 
make  any  mistake  which  might  excite  the  Jews  against 
the  Master.  When  the  three  confidential  disciples,  along 
with  Andrew,  and  no  doubt  at  his  suggestion,  go  to  ask 
the  Master  what  is  the  meaning  of  this  strange  prophecy 
about  not  one  stone  of  the  temple  being  left  upon 
another,  they  go  secretly,  and  no  doubt  at  his  suggestion 
also.  Every  thing  we  are  told  of  the  man  presents  his 
character  in  complete  contrast  to  that  of  Peter,  although 
they  were  brothers,  and  the  Master  sent  them  out  to- 
gether. He  had  need  of  them  both — each  needed  the 
other  to  make  up  for  his  own  weakness.  He  needs  the 
boldness  of  the  radical  who  acts  regardless  of  consequences, 
and  strikes  while  the  iron  is  hot,  seizing  the  golden  mo- 
ment of  opportunity.  But  He  also  needs  the  caution  of 
the  conservative,  his  respect  to  use  and  wont,  to  tradition 
and   habit,  his   sense   of    the   obstacles   in  the  way.      He 


8 

needs  them  both  in  the  service  of  His  Church,  He  needs 
those  who  are  bent  upon,  and  who  are  urgent  to  have  the 
methods,  the  usages,  the  worship,  and  even  the  confession 
of  the  Church  adapted  to  the  demands  and  necessities  of 
our  day.  He  has  need  also  for  those  who  insist  that 
change  shall  come,  if  at  all,  slowly  and  gradually ;  by- 
growth  and  not  by  leaps ;  who  will  hold  fast  to  what  is 
worthy  in  the  past  of  the  Church.  At  bottom,  the  two 
tempers  are  not  hostile  to  each  other.  No  man  can  be 
truly  a  radical  who  is  not  a  conservative  also,  for  if  all  the 
past  was  blundering  and  error,  what  reason  have  we  to 
hope  for  better  in  the  future?  No  man  can  be  really  a 
conservative  without  being  a  radical  also ;  for  if  God  was 
with  His  Church  in  the  past,  leading  and  guiding  it — 
the  living  God — will  He  not  be  so  in  the  present  and  the 
future  ?  So  let  Peter  and  Andrew  go  together  in  this 
ministry,  for  the  Master  needs  them  both.  He  says  that 
every  wise  scribe  which  is  instructed  unto  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  "  is  like  unto  a  man  which  is  an  householder, 
which  bringeth  forth  out  of  his  treasure  "—what  ?  New 
things?     Old  things?     No,  but  "  things  new  and  old." 

The  next  two  are  James,  the  son  of  Zebedee,  and  John, 
his  brother.  We  would  have  said  John,  the  son  of  Zebe- 
dee, and  Jarnes,  his  brother.  John  looks  so  much  larger 
to  our  eye,  is  much  more  eminent,  being  the  beloved  dis- 
ciple— the  author  of  the  fourth  Gospel,  of  three  gracious 
Epistles  and  of  the  wonderful  book  of  Revelation.  This 
apostle  stands  beside  Peter  and  Paul  among  the  great 
teachers  of  the  Church,  yet  here  we  have  "  James,  the  son 
of  Zebedee,  and  John,  his  brother."  This  is  because  at 
the  time  when  the  first  three  Gospels  and  the  Acts  were 
written,  James  was  much  more  eminent  and  was  a  father 
of  the  Church.  This  James  is  called  elsewhere  "  James 
the  Great,"  to  distinguish  him  from  James  the  less,  not 
because  he  was  more  eminent  or  a  bigger  man,  but  be- 
cause he  was  older.  Now  as  James,  the  less,  or  junior, 
was  a  man  of  full  years — this  older  James  must  have  been 
past  the  prime  of  life — perhaps  past  sixty  when  he  was 


called  to  be  among  Christ's  disciples.  John,  on  the  other 
hand,  although  his  brother,  was  the  youngest  of  the  Apos- 
tles, the  nearest  to  the  Master's  heart,  only  a  mere  lad. 
It  was  a  lad  that  lay  in  the  Master's  bosom  on  the  night 
of  the  Last  Supper,  exciting  no  jealousy  in  the  others.  It 
was  a  lad  that  asked  Him  the  question  that  even  Peter 
feared  to  ask.  It  was  a  lad  that  passed  unquestioned  in 
Pilate's  judgment  hall  when  Peter  was  challenged,  It 
was  this  lad  of  whom  it  was  said  that  he  should  remain 
on  the  earth  until  Christ  should  come  again.  And  he 
actually  lived  on  for  nearly  seventy  years  after  his  Lord', 
and  then  died,  the  last  of  the  Apostolic  college,  writing 
the  last  gospel  and  the  last  epistle.  Such  was  the  contrast 
in  their  age ;  and  the  Master  sent  them  out  together. 
Age  and  youth  are  thus  together  in  the  Master's  service. 
So  it  is  that  the  Lord  loves  to  be  served  in  his  Church. 
As  John  Keble  beautifully  says: 

For  as  of  old,  when  two  by  two 
His  herald  saints  the  Saviour  sent, 

To  soften  hearts  like  morning  dew, 
When  He  to  shine  in  mercy  meant. 

So  ever  more  He  deems  His  name 
Best  honored  and  His  way  prepared, 

When  watching  by  His  altar-fiame, 
He  sees  His  servants  duly  paired. 

He  loves  when  youth  and  age  are  met. 
Fervent  old  age  and  youth  serene  ; 

Their  high  and  low  in  concord  set 
For  sacred  song,  joy's  golden  mean. 

He  loves  to  see  all  ages  co-operate,  age  gaining  fer- 
vency from  youth,  and  youth  learning  serenity  from  age. 
The  Church  is  made  for  all  ages.  It  is  distinguished  from 
all  other  societies  except  the  family,  and  this  Bible  is  dis- 
tinguished from  all  other  books  that  claim  to  be  a  revela- 
tion of  the  Divine  will,  by  their  adaptation  to  all  ages,  that 
was  not  devised  for  grown  men  by  grown  men.  This  Bible 
has  lessons  at  once  for  youth  and  age.     It  comes  to  the 


lO 

young  with  the  story  of  the  world's  childhood,  and  of  the 
wonderful  child  clothed  in  glory  and  wisdom.  It  has  les- 
sons of  wisdom  which  tax  the  ripest  experience  for  their 
comprehension.  And  the  Church  is  for  the  young  from 
the  moment  that  God  lays  His  hand  upon  them  in  baptism 
and  claims  them  as  His  own.  It  is  equally  for  the  aged, 
the  home  of  their  spirits,  until  the  last  flickering  of  the 
lamp  of  life  ceases,  and  they  find  themselves  in  the  arms 
of  everlasting  love.  Let  James  and  John  go  together.  Let 
there  be  no  division  of  ages,  no  sundrance  of  these  parts 
of  the  Church  of  Christ,  but  let  youth  and  age  go  together 
— old  age  for  counsel  and  youth  for  energy  and  execution. 
The  next  two  are  Philip  and  Bartholomew.  These 
two  stand  out  in  marked  contrast  as  to  their  intellectual 
character.  Philip  is  a  man  that  is  slow  of  intelligence,  we 
may  call  him,  with  all  respect  for  his  goodness  and  his 
eminent  usefulness,  the  stupid  Apostle.  He  is  able  to  see 
only  what  lies  generally  on  the  surface  of  things,  but 
nothing  beyond.  When  he  told  Nathaniel  that  he  had 
found  the  promised  Messiah  in  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  and 
Nathaniel  said  unto  him,  "  Can  there  any  good  thing  come 
out  of  Nazareth  ^  "  all  that  Philip  can  say  is  "  Come  and 
see,"  although  he  might  have  told  him  of  Jonah  and  others 
of  God's  servants  who  had  come  out  of  Nazareth.  Again, 
when  the  multitudes  are  hungry  in  the  wilderness,  the 
Master  asks  Philip,  as  if  to  give  the  slowest  scholar  in  the 
class  a  chance,  "  Where  shall  we  buy  bread  that  these  may 
eat?"  Philip  can  only  answer:  "Two  hundred  penny- 
worth of  bread  is  not  sufficient  for  them  that  every  one  of 
them  may  take  a  little."  And  then  when  the  Master  has 
been  speaking  of  Himself  as  the  manifestation  of  the 
Father,  Philip  misses  the  whole  point  of  the  discourse,  and 
says :  "  Lord,  show  us  the  Father,  and  it  sufificeth  us." 
Mark  how  the  Lord's  sense  of  his  slowness  blends  with  the 
divine  patience  of  the  answer:  "  Have  I  been  so  long  with 
you,  and  yet  hast  thou  not  known  me  Phihp, — He  that 
hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father,  and  how  sayest  thou 
then — 'Show   us   the  Father?'"     That  was   the  kind  ef 


1 1 

man  Philip  was — a  man  that  had  to  understand  and  preach 
the  wonderful  news  of  the  Kingdom,  while  so  slow  to  lay 
hold  of  such  things.  Yet  the  Master  chooses  him,  but  He 
sent  with  him  his  friend  Bartholomew,  better  known  as 
the  Nathaniel  of  John's  gospel.  Nathaniel  was  a  man  of 
alert  and  active  mind  and  quick  perceptions,  although  it 
was  the  slow-witted  Philip  that  brought  the  quick-witted 
Nathaniel  to  Christ.  No  sooner  does  he  hear  of  a  Messiah 
from  Nazareth,  than  there  flashes  on  him  the  objection  : 
"  Can  any  good  thing  come  out  of  that  place."  But  when 
he  yielded  to  his  friend's  invitation  to  "  come  and  see  " 
for  himself,  and  when  he  found  in  Christ  first  a  supernat- 
ural insight  and  then  a  divine  sympathy,  he  burst  into  the 
confession  which  he  was  the  first  to  make,  "  Thou  art  the 
Son  of  God— Thou  art  the  King  of  Israel!"  He  was 
satisfied  in  three  questions,  and  satisfied  forever. 

Such  were  these  two  men,  and  the  Lord  sent  them  out 
together.  So  this  ought  to  be  the  way  of  His  church  at 
all  times.  There  is  need  of  people  of  slow  wit  in  His 
church.  It  is  not  an  assembly  of  learned  divines,  each 
able  to  distinguish  between  every  doctrine  and  its  counter- 
feit heresy.  There  is  room  in  the  church  for  those  that 
know  little  more  than  to  know  Christ.  It  is  a  grand  thing 
to  know  that  there  is  a  fellowship  here  for  us  all.  Some- 
times in  our  Presbyterian  Churches  we  are  apt  to  draw 
the  line  too  high  in  the  demand  for  doctrinal  intelligence 
and  qualifications  of  that  sort  which  are  not  demanded  by 
the  law  of  God.  Once  there  applied  for  membership  in 
our  old  church,  when  the  late  Dr.  S.  B.  Wylie  was  its 
Pastor,  a  poor  woman  who  had  very  little  opportunity  of 
learning  these  doctrinal  niceties,  and  when  the  session  ex- 
amined her,  she  was  not  able  to  answer  their  questions  and 
it  was  recommended  that  she  wait  until  she  should  be  bet- 
ter instructed.  As  she  rose  to  leave  the  room  she  burst 
into  tears,  saying,  "  I  don't  know  all  these  things,  but  I 
know  that  Christ  is  my  Saviour,  and  He  died  for  me." 
And  good  old  Dr.  Wylie  rose  and  took  her  by  the  hand, 
and  brought  her  back  and  set  her  down  again  among  those 


12 


who  were  to  be  received  into  the  membership  of  the 
church,  saying,  "  My  dear  sister,  after  all,  that  is  the  sub- 
stance of  the  whole  matter,  and  if  Christ  has  welcomed 
you,  we  will  not  send  you  away."  Yes,  there  is  room  for 
such  in  the  Kingdom  without  knowing  much  about  doc- 
trines, when  they  have  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  that  died  for 
them.  So  Philips  have  their  place  in  the  church,  if  they 
also  have  their  dangers.  So  the  Lord  chose  him,  but 
sent  with  him  Bartholomew,  a  man  of  alert  intelligence, 
ready  of  apprehension,  and  the  very  opposite  of  Philip 
although  they  were  friends.  But  he  also  had  his  danger 
—  he  was  in  danger  of  being  turned  away  from  the  Christ 
by  his  own  superficial  objections  such  as  that :  "Can  any 
good  come  out  of  Nazareth?"  How  that  kind  of  ob- 
jection keeps  men  away  from  Christ  still — as  it  did  not 
keep  this  man.  It  is  because  men  will  not  listen  to  the 
advice  of  the  slow-witted  apostle  and  "  come  and  see."  It 
is  because  they  do  not  give  earnest  and  serious  consider- 
ation to  the  evidence  of  fact  and  experience,  that  they 
stay  outside.  "  Come  and  see  "  how  men  and  nations 
have  been  regenerated  into  a  new  life  by  the  gospel. 
"  Come  and  see  "  how  men  have  been  lifted  out  of  a  life 
of  sin  and  impurity  into  one  of  noble  service  to  God  and 
to  man.     Says  James  Russell  Lowell — our  chief  poet : 

"  When  the  microscopic  search  of  skepticism  has 
turned  its  attention  to  human  society,  and  found  a  place 
on  this  planet  ten  miles  square,  where  a  decent  man  can 
live  in  decency,  comfort  and  security,  supporting  and 
educating  his  children,  unspoiled  and  unpolluted,  man- 
hood respected,  womanhood  honored  and  human  life  held 
in  due  regard — when  skeptics  can  find  such  a  place  ten 
miles  square  on  this  globe,  where  the  Gospel  of  Christ 
has  not  gone  and  cleared  the  way,  and  laid  the  founda- 
tions, and  made  decency  and  security  possible,  it  will 
then  be  in  order  for  the  skeptical  literati  to  move  thither 
and  then  ventilate  their  views." 

How  much  of  the  skepticism  among  young  men  grows 
out   of  this  unwillingness  to  come  and  see.     It  is  said  of 


13 

Alexander  Hamilton,  whom  Niebuhr  pronounced  the 
greatest  statesman  of  his  age,  that  in  his  youth  he  fell 
into  the  habit,  then  prevalent,  of  ridiculing  the  Gospel 
and  the  Christian  religion,  and  that  on  one  occasion  he 
had  gone  further  in  this  direction  than  ever  before ;  and 
as  he  stood  at  his  own  door,  after  knocking  for  admission 
and  waiting  for  the  door  to  be  opened,  the  thought 
flashed  on  him:  "If  you  had  been  given  the  meanest 
retaining  fee  you  ever  had,  you  would  gave  given  that 
case  more  thought  than  you  ever  gave  to  this  that  claims 
to  be  the  only  hope  of  mankind ;"  and  before  the  door 
opened  he  resolved  to  "  come  and  see,"  and  Alexander 
Hamilton  became  an  humble  disciple  of  Christ.  If  men 
would  only  "  come  and  see  "  as  he  came,  how  much  less 
there  would  be  of  the  folly  that  makes  a  mock  of  sin. 
■"  Come  and  see," — they  are  the  words  of  the  stupid  apos- 
tle, who  made  no  professed  claim  to  wisdom,  and  yet 
wrought  to  wise  ends  in  a  brighter  man.  And  the  Master 
did  not  part  them ;  Philip  and  Bartholomew  were  sent  out 
together. 

The  next  two  are  Thomas  and  Matthew  the  publican. 
Thomas  is  known  to  us  all — a  disciple  that  has  passed 
into  a  proverb  as  the  "doubter."  We  would  hardly 
admit  him  into  the  Church  now,  after  all  these  centuries 
of  growth  and  confirmation  in  the  Gospel,  and  yet  the 
Lord  took  him.  His  doubting  comes  out  in  more  places 
than  one.  The  Lord  has  been  saying  that  Lazarus  is 
dead,  and  He  must  go  back  to  Judea.  Thomas  said: 
"  Let  us  also  go  that  we  may  die  with  him."  Unbelief 
prompted  those  words  ;  they  mean  :  "  He  does  not  know 
what  a  risk  He  is  running,  or  how  those  Jews  hate  Him. 
But,  at  most,  they  can  but  kill  us,  so  let  us  go."  Another 
time  he  flatly  contradicts  the  Master,  who  has  been  say- 
ing of  His  departure  from  them  :  "  Whither  I  go  ye  know, 
and  the  way  ye  know."  Thomas  said  to  Him  :  "  Lord, 
we  know  not  whither  Thou  goest,  and  how  can  we  know 
the  way  ?"  Then  you  remember  that  remarkable  scene 
after  the  resurrection,  when   the  disciples    said    to   him : 


14 

"Thomas,  \\c  have  seen  the  Lord!"  and  Thomas  said  to 
them  :  "  Except  I  shall  see  in  His  hands  the  print  of  the 
nails,  and  thrust  my  hand  into  His  side,  I  will  not  believe.'^' 
Even  that  evidence  was  <^ranted  to  this  doubtin*^  Apostle, 
and  Thomas  fell  upon  his  knees  and  cried  out :  "  My  Lord 
and  my  Ciod  I"  What  a  man  for  the  Lord  to  choose  as 
an  apostle,  the  minister  and  founder  of  a  Church  based 
on  faith  !  Yet  the  Lord  chose  him,  and  bore  with  him, 
as  with  many  another  like  him  since  that  day,  partly  for 
Our  sakes  as  well  as  for  His  own,  that  it  mi^ht  be  on 
record  that  the  Apostles  were  not  a  group  of  silly  de^ 
votees,  ready  to  believe  anything  that  was  told  them,  but 
had  among  them  men  who  insisted  on  proof  evidence  as 
distinctly  as  any  modern  man  of  science  could.  Au- 
gustine says :  "  Thomas  doubted  that  we  may  never 
doubt!" 

So  the  Master  chose  him  as  an  apostle  ;  for  He  had 
use  for  him  ;  but  when  He  sent  Thomas  out,  He  sent 
with  him  Matthew,  the  publican,  a  man  of  tried  and  tested 
loyalty.  This  man  was  a  collector  of  taxes — not  for  the 
Roman  government,  but  for  himself.  He  had  bought 
them  from  the  government  and  so  he  is  sitting  at  the 
receipt  of  customs  and  the  Master  passed  by,  and  said 
unto  him  :  "  Follow  me,"  and  he  arose  and  left  all — left 
his  worldly  substance — and  followed  Him.  He  had 
doubtless  heard  the  Master  preaching,  and  his  heart  had 
been  touched  ;  so  when  Christ  called  him,  this  man,  who 
sat  down  that  day  a  publican,  rose  up  with  a  new  spirit, 
as  a  true  Israelite,  and  lived  to  write  the  most  Jewish  of 
the  Gospels.  This  man  had  fearless  faith  and  followed 
without  a  question  or  a  doubt,  and  the  Lord  sent  him  and 
the  doubter  out  together.  Fearless  faith  and  .honest 
doubt  are  not  enemies  ;  they  are  the  best  of  friends.  Cole- 
ridge well  says :  "  Do  not  be  afraid  to  doubt  if  you  want 
to  believe."  The  doubter  who  wants  to  believe  will  end 
as  Thomas  did,  on  his  knees  before  Christ,  with  his  mouth 
full  of  praise  and  thanksgiving.  But  the  man  who  wants 
not  to  believe  should  be  afraid  to  doubt,  for  his  doubting 


15 

then  will  carry  him  further  and  further  away  from  Christ. 
Honest  doubt  is  but  another  kind  of  faith — the  horror  of 
it  implies  unbelief,  a  dread  that  the  truth  will  not  bear 
examination,  that  its  pillars  are  rotten.  As  Tennyson 
says,  though  with  something  of  exaggeration  : 

There  lives  more  faith  in  honest  doubt, 
Believe  me,  than  in  half  the  creeds. 

Who  fights  his  doubts  and  gathers  strength, 
And  will  not  makfe  his  judgment  blind. 
But  faces  spectres  of  the  mind, 

And  lays  them,  thus  he  comes  at  length 

To  find  a  stronger  faith  his  own, 
The  Power  is  with  him  in  the  night 
Which  made  the  darkness  and  the  light, 

And  dwells  not  in  the  light  alone. 

So  let  Thomas  and  Matthew,  fearless  faith  and  fearless 
search,  go  forth  together. 

The  next  two  are  James,  the  son  of  Alpheus,  and 
Lebbeus,  whose  surname  was  Thaddeus.  This  is  James, 
the  less,  so-called,  to  distinguish  him  from  James,  the 
brother  of  John.  He  is  also  called  James,  the  Lord's 
brother,  and  James,  the  Just — and  that  last  is  the  word 
which  tells  us  most  about  him.  His  mind  and  character 
are  shown  in  his  epistle — an  epistle  of  rebukes  for  the 
loose  tongue,  the  godless  lives  and  empty  professions 
which  he  found  in  the  churches.  Its  keynote  is :  "  Show 
me  thy  faith  without  thy  works  and  I  will  show  thee  my 
faith  by  my  works."  Thaddeus,  who  is  also  called  "  Judas, 
not  Iscariot,"  also  "  Jude,  the  Lord's  brother,"  also  has 
left  us  a  lesson,  the  Epistle  of  St.  Jude,  and  it  also  is  an 
epistle  of  rebukes — for  the  false  teachers  that  have  broken 
in  like  wild  boars  are  wasting  the  Lord's  vineyard.  Its 
watchword  is  :  "  Contend  earnestly  for  the  faith  !  "  He 
was  a  man  of  definite,  clear,  sharply-cut  convictions,  as  ap- 
pears also  in  the  Gospel  of  John.  Christ  says  to  them  that 
He  will  manifest  Himself  to  those  who  love  Him.  Judas, 
not   Iscariot,  said  unto  him:   "  Lord,  how  is  it  that  Thou 


i6 

Avilt  manifest  Thyself  unto  us,  and  not  unto  the  World?" 
He  wanted  a  definition — he  must  get  a  definite  answer 
about  difificult  things.  He  was  as  eager  for  that  as  a 
whole  synod  of  divines.  Such  is  the  contrast  in  the  two: 
the  man  of  practice  and  the  man  of  faith.  And  the  Lord 
sent  them  out  together.  So  Christ  is  best  served  in  his 
Church — when  faith  and  practice,  Jude  and  James,  go 
hand  in  hand,  you  must  not  separate  them.  This  Gospel 
is  not  mere  morality,  as  James  even  will  show  us ;  nor  is 
it  mere  theology,  as  Jude  will  show.  The  Christ  it  shows 
us  is  the  power  of  God  and  the  wisdom  of  God,  and  what 
God  has  joined  together — power  unto  life  and  wisdom 
unto  doctrine — let  no  man  put  asunder.  Attempt  to  do 
it  and  what  is  the  result  ?  Separate  Christian  morals 
from  the  great  principles  of  Christian  truth  and  you  will 
have  a  mere  bundle  of  rules  without  any  power  over  the 
hearts  and  lives  of  men.  Separate  Christian  doctrine 
from  life  and  practice,  and  you  will  have  left  a  valley  of 
dry  bones,  an  endless  and  wearisome  hair-splitting  and 
contention  over  trifles.  But  when  James  and  Jude  go 
together,  then  the  Church  grows  both  in  faith  and  in  god- 
liness. 

And  now  we  come  to  the  last  pair  of  the  twelve — 
Simon  the  Canaanite,  and  Judas  Iscariot.  Heretofore  we 
have  been  dealing  with  two  types  of  mind  and  character, 
for  both  of  which  there  is  room  and  welcome  in  the  king- 
dom ;  but  here  we  have  two,  one  of  which  is  welcome  and 
the  other  is  not.  Simon,  the  Canaanite,  belongs  to  the 
Church,  but  as  to  Judas  Iscariot — as  Peter  said  of  him — 
■"  He  went  out  from  us,  because  he  was  not  of  us." 

Simon  the  Canaanite  is  called  also  Simon  the  Zealot, 
the  two  epithets  meaning  the  same  thing.  He  belonged 
to  the  sect  of  Zealots,  which  was  the  extreme  party  of  the 
Jews.  These  men  were  the  very  opposite  of  the  time- 
serving Herodians.  They  banded  together  to  keep  the 
Holy  Land  clean  of  idolatry,  by  inflicting  swift  and 
secret  vengeance  on  all  who  profaned  it  by  heathen  prac- 
tices.    And  in  this  they  were  protected,  as  the  Jews  re- 


17 

garded  zeal  as  a  fruit  and  evidence  of  Divine  inspiration, 
and  thus  they  enjoyed  impunity  in  doing  things  where 
others  would  have  been  punished.  Thus  it  is  that  when 
GUT  Master  went  to  the  Temple  and  drove  out  the  money- 
changers and  those  that  bought  and  sold  therein,  no  one 
interfered  with  Him,  because  He  was  understood  to  claim 
the  immunity  of  a  Zealot.  Simon  had  belonged  to  the 
Zealots,  which  tells  us  of  what  temper  of  mind  he  was, 
and  doubtless  when  he  is  admitted  into  fellowship  with 
Christ,  carried  his  zeal  with  him  into  Christ's  service. 
His  motto,  as  that  of  his  party  has  been  :  "  Independence 
at  any  price."  Now  it  would  be  :  "  Christ  at  any  price  !  " 
— all  things  but  loss  for  the  excellency  of  the  knowledge 
of  Christ  ! 

But  what  shall  we  say  of  Judas? — the  man  whose  very 
ivame  has  become  a  curse,  the  bitterest  word  anger  can 
fling  at  its  object.  We  put  his  sin  too  far  away  from  us. 
We  think  of  it  as  something  monstrous,  abnormal,  im- 
possible to  us.  In  truth  it  is  the  sanest  sin  of  all.  Judas 
Iscariot  was  a  minimum  Christian  ;  that  was  the  secret  of 
his  fall.  He  was  drawn  to  Christ  by  some  kind  of  at- 
traction and  was  willing  to  do  what  would  entitle  him  to 
a  place  among  Christ's  disciples,  and  as  his  faith  had  no 
zeal  in  it,  it  gave  way.  He  showed  his  spirit  when  Mary 
took  the  costly  ointment  and  anointed  her  Master's  feet,. 
ajid  he  says  :  "  Why  was  not  this  sold  for  three  hundred 
pence  and  given  to  the  poor?"  Ah,  Judas!  some  gifts 
are  too  precious  for  Christ,  some  offerings  too  great  to 
make  to  Him,  some  worship  too  much  to  render  to  Him  | 
He  hesitated  at  a  complete  surrender  and  so  he  fell.  He 
is  the  only  one  in  the  Gospel  that  ever  counts  anything ; 
all  the  rest  give  without  counting.  He  counted  the  three 
hundred  pence,  the  value  of  the  ointment,  and  the  thirty 
pieces  of  silver — the  price  of  his  Master.  In  his  life  and 
death  is  a  warning  for  all  of  us.  As  against  Judas  Iscariot 
we  must  all  stand  with  Simon,  the  Zealot,  and  with  Mary 
of  Bethany,  in  the  self-surrender  of  a  love  that  gives 
Christ  the  best — gives  Him  everything.     "  The  virtue  is 


not  safe  that  is  not  enthusiastic,"  says  a  modern  writer. 
The  faith  is  not  safe  that  is  not  zealous.  When  we  begin 
to  count  and  reckon  how  much  love  is  absolutely  required 
to  give  us  rank  as  Christians,  how  much  (or  how  little) 
holiness  will  get  us  into  heaven,  then  we  are  on  perilous 
ground,  near  by  the  traitor  Apostle— "  Judas  Iscariot, 
which  also  betrayed  Him." 

And  now,  dear  friends,  as  we  look  upon  the  whole  of 
this  story,  at  the  Apostles  gathered  thus  into  the  fellow- 
ship of  the  first  Church,  and  sent  forth  two  by  two,  do  we 
not  see  in  it  a  lesson  of  Christ's  wonderful  wisdom  and 
goodness  in  thus  binding  into  one  brotherhood  these  in- 
exhaustible varieties  of  character  and  temperament,  and 
finding  for  each  its  place  and  its  work.  As  we  look  upon 
it,  we  can  feel  and  say,  each  of  us,  there  is  a  place  and 
welcome  for  me.  I  am  not  called  upon  to  measure  my 
faith  or  my  service  by  any  other  man's.  I  am  called  to 
faith,  unfeigned  and  true  service,  according  to  my  nature, 
and  my  ability,  and  can  leave  the  rest  to  Him. 

And  when  we  see  how  our  Lord  sent  out  His  apostles 
two  by  two,  joining  together  those  who  differed  the  most 
from  each  other  and  thus  were  the  best  able  to  help  each 
other,  by  making  one  whole  man  out  of  two  halves,  we 
learn  another  lesson  of  His  dealings  with  His  Church. 
We  see  that  it  is  His  purpose  that  these  differences  of 
mind  and  character  and  condition  should  be  not  a  cause 
of  division  and  dissension  in  His  Church,  but  a  means  of 
binding  His  servants  together  more  closely  for  effectual 
service.  But  the  Church  has  not  learnt  this  lesson  of 
Divine  love  and  wisdom.  We  have  not  gone  forth  to- 
gether, but  more  often  against  each  other,  making  these 
innocent  differences  of  telnper,  and  habit  of  mind,  the 
plea  for  sectarian  divisions,  much  more  than  any  grounds 
of  truth  imperiled  or  righteousness  outraged.  This  is 
why  the  world  has  not  fallen  before  the  testimony  of  the 
Church;  has  not  believed  that  the  Father  has  sent  Him 
to  gather  humanity  out  of  its  isolations  and  sorrows  into 
one   body   under   its   true   Head;  because  it  has  had  no 


19 

• 

evidence  that  all  His  own  people  are  one  in  Him  as  He  is 
one  with  the  Father.  We  have  not  been  a  united 
"  household  of  faith,"  but  have  been  biting  and  devouring 
one  another  because  of  the  very  things  He  gave  to  bind 
us  closer  together.  We  have  been  like  troops  that,  in 
the  heat  and  smoke  of  the  battle,  pour  volley  after  vol- 
ley into  the  ranks  of  companions  in  arms;  or,  like  the  two 
ships  of  war,  which  spent  the  night  in  bombarding  each 
other,  and  then  when  the  sun  rose  saw  it  was  the  same 
flag  which  floated  over  two  shattered  hulks,  over  two 
decks  slippery  with  blood.  Let  us  pray  for  the  dawn  of 
that  blessed  da}'  in  whose  light  we  shall  be  able  to  rec- 
ognize as  brethren  all  who  love  the  common  Master,  and 
come  to  mind  not  our  own  things  only,  but  the  things  of 
others — the  gifts  and  graces  with  which  He  has  been 
pleased  to  enrich  the  lives  and  the  fellowships  of  our 
fellow-Christians  of  other  names. 

You  remember  that  wonderful  prayer  of  the  Apostle 
in  his  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians :  "  For  this  cause  I  bow 
my  knees  unto  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  from 
whom  the  whole  family  in  Heaven  and  earth  is  named, 
that  He  would  grant  you,  according  to  the  riches  of  His 
glory,  to  be  strengthened  with  might  by  His  Spirit  in  the 
inner  man  ;  that  Christ  may  dwell  in  your  hearts  by  faith  ; 
that  ye  being  rooted  and  grounded  in  love,  may  be  able 
to  comprehend  with  all  saints " — mark  the  expression, 
*'  with  all  saints,"  not  you  in  your  little  corner  and  I  in 
mine,  both  shut  in  by  a  sectarian  fence  from  the  rest  of 
Christendom  —  "  what  is  the  breadth,  and  length,  and 
depth,  and  height,  and  to  know  the  love  of  Christ,  which 
passeth  knowledge,  that  ye  may  be  filled  with  all  the  ful- 
ness of  God."  And  then  he  passes  from  prayer  to  praise: 
"  Now  unto  Him  that  is  able  to  do  exceeding  abundantly 
above  all  that  we  ask  or  think,  according  to  (right  in  the 
line  of)  the  power  that  worketh  in  us,  unto  Him  be  glory 
in  the  Church  by  Christ  Jesus  throughout  all  ages,  world 
without  end.     Amen." 


The  Sending  of  the  Apostles,  Two  by  Two. 


A  SERMON 


The  Rev.  ROBERT  ELLIS  THOMPSON,  D.D., 


PHILADELPHIA. 


Preached  in 

THE   WALNUT  STREET  PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH, 

West  Philadelphia. 

May  i8,  1890. 


DATE  DUE 


PAMPHIET  BINDER 


